Falling Apart
by Behaxeltzi
Summary: One shot following the relationship between Xerxes Break and Reim Lunettes. Break visits Reim in his room while he's recovering from injuries sustained in his encounter with Lilly Baskerville.


A few days had passed since the incident at Yula's mansion. Since the confrontation with the Baskervilles...since Reim's confrontation with the Baskervilles. And he had been injured most horribly in the incident, and for this Xerxes Break laid a lot of blame upon himself.

Why hadn't he gone with him? Sure, Reim had said he could handle it, but had he really believed it? If they had known the Baskervilles were to make an appearance on that night, would he have still left the task solely to Reim and the other Pandora members? The answer to this was, quite bluntly, no.

No, Break wouldn't have. He would have taken charge himself, would have gone after the sealing stone himself. Instead, in this instance he had let Reim handle it, and as a result his only and most precious friend...had almost been...

No, he was more than that. Break felt a deeper feeling for Reim. Perhaps it was that this warped, twisted wretch of a man known as Xerxes Break was in fact in love with the much more innocent and much less broken man known as Reim Lunettes.

Break's many feelings and regrets at the incident were racing around his head in circles as he walked speedily towards Reim's room. He had to know that he was alright.

The trip to Reim's room had not taken long, and, as he knocked and opened the door, had Break known how much the anxiety and worry showed on his face, he would have taken a moment to compose himself. Break did not wait for a reply as he pushed the door open; if he had, none would have come, for Reim was sleeping at that precise moment. Break quietly stepped into the room and gently closed the door behind him. He silently made his way across the room to the younger man's bedside, pulling a chair up to the bedside as soundlessly as he could while he did. He sat down and watched Reim's sleeping face without a word. His teeth gritted and fists clenched as he saw the bandages that covered his companion so. Had he been so badly injured? And had he always been so fragile as he looked now?

Somehow, as if he felt the presence of another, Reim fidgeted in his sleep and turned his head to face Break, he slowly opened his eyes and the man known to many as the Mad Hatter blurrily came into focus. However, he never came quite completely into focus—from this Reim could deduce he was not wearing his glasses, but then, why should he be? After all, he was resting in bed. However, blurred as his vision was, he could see Break's clenched fists and gritted teeth. His eyebrows knitted into a frown; he'd not really seen Break pull such a face, to show regret such as this, in years. Break was usually so steadfast, so resolute in his choices that he had rarely seen this man show such a deep level of regret.

Gingerly Reim lifted a hand from the bed and gently placed it on top of one of Break's own, clenched as it was. At the touch, Break looked up without a word, his face reflecting his worry and his distress. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words wouldn't come; for probably the first time in a long time Xerxes Break was stuck with nothing to say. He had no comment, no smart remark and no jibe.

Seeing Break's speechlessness Reim decided to take what was probably going to be a short opportunity to say something before Break had a chance to.

"It's okay...I...I'm fine" Reim said, hoping to reassure his old friend by putting a small smile on his face.

This had quite an effect. At first Break looked a little confused, confounded, like his brain was trying to digest what it was the younger man had said. But then his eyebrows knitted together and he looked like he was positively livid with anger. He slapped Reim's hand off his own and stood up in a rush, bewildering him.

"Okay! It's okay! What about this is okay!" Break shouted, his arms shaking as he did.

Reim looked up at him, baffled, he didn't understand why Break was so angry with him. He opened his mouth to speak but all he could manage was "Xerxes...I..." Either he didn't know what to say or Break just didn't give him the chance.

"You're fine, you say!" Break said as he seized a pillow from Reim's bed, causing him to drop with a start.

"X-Xerxes..I...I don't..." was all Reim managed to stutter out before Break hit him with the pillow.  
"Ow! What was..."

"Because you know, you sure don't look fine to me!" Break said before hitting him again.

"Ow! Xerxes would you..."

"Do you know how I felt!" Break hit him again.

"I..I'm sorr..."

"I thought you had DIED!" Thump went the pillow again.

"Would you just liste..." Reim continued fruitlessly, trying to get a word in as Break continued to vent his frustration.

"I was ready to give everything I had, EVERYTHING, if only it meant...if only it meant the people who had taken you from me would be gone from this world," Break said as he continued to beat Reim about with the pillow.

"Xerxes, please..." Reim had by now brought his arms up to protect himself from the blows of the pillow.

"You said you could handle it!"

"I thought..."

"Do you know how it felt seeing you laying there? I had given up, I couldn't stop the hopelessness and the anger, and the desperation that overcame me...I thought…" Break began to cough. "I thought I had lost you...I was ready to throw it all away, if only...if only it meant that they suffered as you did…" Finally Break stopped his assault with the pillow, not because he had vented all he had, but because he was succumbing to a coughing fit. He dropped the pillow as he stumbled back slightly, slumping back into his chair, one hand covering his mouth and his other clutching at his chest as he began coughing hard.

Reim lowered his arms and sat himself up, looking at Break sympathetically as he struggled to bring his coughing under control.

"I'm sorry," Reim said, finally unhindered as he replaced the pillow and sat himself against it.  
"I'm sorry that I worried you."

He looked sincerely at Break, who had finally managed to bring himself under control and stop coughing.

"However," he said as he moved himself closer to the edge of the bed and reached out to lift and hold Break's face in his hand, "I never expected that you had cared so much for me that you would lose your calm like that, over someone like me." He looked sincerely into Break's eye, leaving his hand cupping Break's cheek.

"D-Don't be absurd," Break said, turning his head slightly with a huff and a frown. Of course, he wouldn't admit his true feelings; that kind of thing was quite beyond him. "You are a valuable...asset to me," he said, that probably being the closet he would ever come to a true confession of any kind—at least for now.

"Oh, I see," Reim said, a little discouraged, dropping his hand from Breaks face.

Break frowned. He hadn't meant it like that, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell Reim the truth.

"Reim...I..." Break began, but was not sure how to carry on or to get his words out in the slightest. He wasn't used to this kind of conversation. "When I saw you lying there like that, I felt like everything was falling apart. I couldn't contain myself," Break finally managed to say; he had no idea why it had been so difficult.

"We are in quite a mess aren't we," Reim said, leaning into Break and gently touching his forehead to the older man's.

Break blushed slightly, stunned by Reim's action.

"However I don't think we could be any other way," Reim added, closing his eyes.

Break's eye swivelled upwards, examining Reim's features as best he could with his failing eyesight as they both sat there in silence, their heads touching. Before too long had passed, however, Break gingerly reached up with both his hands and gently cupped the sides of Reim's face. He then raised his head back just enough to gently kiss Reim on the forehead and said, "How absurd." 


End file.
